What Do Your Characters Complain About?

Maybe I’m stretching a bit today, but listening to my mother complaining yet again about the weather made me stop at think about the characters we write. Even the most positive of us does a bit of complaining now and then. We all know people who complain constantly, some about everything, some about one thing. Complaints range from light, joking comments to outright whining.

Employees complain about bosses, soldiers complain about officers (and the reverse), spouses complain about each other, the list goes on ad infinitum. So, just what does an alien non-human mercenary complain about? What would your cat complain about? Or your apple tree?

I think having that annoying, overly fussy, supporting character that whines constantly can actually help your story’s realism as long as you don’t overdo it. It doesn’t hurt anything to have someone the reader would like to stuff headfirst into a hole, particularly if that character does get stuffed headfirst in a hole before it’s over It affords the reader a chance to really connect and sympathize with a main character when they have to deal with a complainer. We feel a sense of satisfaction when we see the complainer either learn a better attitude – or get stuffed in a hole. I have seen it used so naturally, I identified with the situation without ever thinking it might be deliberate. God, that author was good!

That said, exactly what an alien character would complain about is something that will require some thought. It means getting deeper into the motivations of your characters and how they relate to the world you’ve built. The joking variety may be the most important in creating a natural, energetic bond between main characters. For me, it’s also the easiest to write.  I hadn’t thought about writing a whiny character before, but I will add that to my list of possibilities.

I can’t tell you how to decide what your characters complain about; that would be like trying to tell you how to think. Hopefully, this has stirred your mind and will possibly point you to a new direction to be explored.

Until next time, Happy Writing -one word at a time!